It has been a while, my apologizes. Life has truly gotten away from me, in a positive way. After Darren and I got married my school life was in full swing, I am teaching a fabulous class of fifth graders who brighten my day every morning, and I decided to start my masters, so I was taking classes for that as well. Like I said my life was in full swing. As the beginning of the year went quickly and soon Thanksgiving was right around the corner I began thinking where is the time going. Darren and I started talking a lot about life and our goals for what we want accomplish. We both knew the standards having children buying a house, living happily ever after, but what else. What was God calling us to do with our lives? After some time of talking, praying, and thinking we both came together, honestly a little afraid of what we thought God was asking us to do, we told each other that we heard God telling both of us that we are to purse our music and song writing. Some of you might think why is the scary. WELL let me tell you our fears, we unfortunately at times have not received the support that would help us grow from some people, which if you know me at all you know how sensitive I am and how hard it is for me do deal with peoples disapproval. So that was one BIG fear, another one was/is money! It costs a lot of money to produce your music (which is what we feel called to do) and we firmly believe that we will not go into debt or put of future family into a hard spot money wise, since it does say in the bible we should not. And third, IF we do make a CD and people enjoy it and we have the chance to make a profit off of it we WANT to make sure that the money is used for Gods purpose not ours, we want to give it back to Him. See most of the music we write has a definite message and that message is for the lost, beat down, bruised, confused, and looking, we write a message of hope, and to grab their attention and show them the truth JESUS at the end of the song. We feel our songs are written to save souls, since music is such a moving a powerful thing that reaches the inner core of people we want to us it to show TRUTH, HOPE, and LOVE to people in need. And those people may be non-Christians but they may be Christians too.
So where do we go from here, we have the vision, we have the desire, we need a plan. With our fears as a guide and prayer as our daily practice we entered into a plan to follow God's plan for our lives. We purchased (within our budget) a few materials we needed to start the recording process and we started. Or I should say Darren started he has been working slowing but steadily on the music portion of our songs and started with the PERFECT song, we wrote a song called You of Little Faith. I wrote the words and melody of this song while in my car arguing with God about how I am not good enough to record, and all I could hear over and over was You of Little Faith, so this is the perfect song to start with.
Our goals is to have a couple songs in place for my 25th birthday in April, in which we would love to have a concert inviting all of you to come and hear what God has been doing in our lives :)
Thanks
Until next time :)
I think you guys will do great!! Can't wait to hear some of your music!
ReplyDeleteMarissa,
ReplyDeleteI know without a doubt that God is calling you and Darren in this direction. That is confirmed in my mind after listening to you both at the concert on Friday.
As I've already said, your voice brings me to tears. Watching Darren play on that piano and hear the passion with which you sing is utterly breathtaking. There are lots of people who can sing and sing well, just like there are people who can play instruments well. But there is something magical when those gifts are touched by the hand of God and those gifts are being used for God.
In the past year, I've been clinging to the words I've received from God. Even in my darkest days, of which I've had a few as of late, those words gave me hope. Some of the most important words I received were through these daily devotionals I receive (Primetime with God), and there is one I thought I might share with you. I think you are being called to a "God-Thing"!!
"Good Things Versus God-Things"
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1, by Os Hillman
11-23-2010
"Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." - Romans 8:14
The greatest sign that you and I are maturing in our walk with God is when we can discern the difference between "good things" and "God-things." When the people of Israel journeyed out of Egypt through the desert, the cloud led them by day. They could move only as fast as the cloud. If they went ahead, they went without God's presence. If they lagged behind, they also lost God's presence.
Each of us must have the discernment to know when God is leading in a matter, or if it is simply a good idea. There are so many things in which you and I can be involved, and the more successful you become, the greater the temptations to enter into things where God has not called you. Entrepreneurs are especially prone to see all the opportunities.
I recall one time when I entered into a project that I thought was a great idea. It would help many people. After two years, the project had to be discontinued. It was a great lesson on understanding what projects have God's blessing on them. There are some projects you and I might get involved in that result in little fruit compared to the investment put into them. That is because they may never have been birthed by the Holy Spirit.
As sons of God, we are called to be led by the Spirit. This requires a level of dependence on God in which many of us really do not want to invest. It requires listening, waiting, and moving only when God's Spirit tells us to move. Workplace believers are "action" people. We know how to get things done, but our greatest strength can be our greatest weakness.
Today, ask God to make you a Romans 8:14 man or woman who is led by the Spirit of God. Pray against lagging behind or moving ahead. Ask God to reveal whether the next project you consider is a "good thing" or a "God-thing."
Marissa... if this is something the Spirit is leading you to do, it will happen. It will happen in the right time, too. Don't be discouraged by words spoken against you or when things appear to go against this plan. Sometimes we think we see what is "perfect", but God often knows better. Even afterwards, when it is hard to see why something didn't happen a certain way, we are really only looking at the back of the tapestry.
You are a great woman of faith, you are a beautiful soul, and you are an amazing singer. I can't wait to hear you sing your song with Darren at your birthday in April!! (That means you must invite me!)
Love you!
Jen
Jen, THANK YOU! Truly! THANK YOU!!! I needed those words! And OF COURSE you and your family are invited!!!! ALWAYS!!!!
ReplyDelete